Autism Therapy: cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT)

definition of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT): Type of therapy that helps people learn how their thinking patterns may cause their feelings and behaviors, and affect how they react to situations.

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Journal of ECT, by Nilsson, BM, and Ekselius L., published in 2009, summarized Jul 15, 2010

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) may be helpful for people with autism who suffer from severe mental health issues that do not respond to other treatments.

Many people with autism also have other mental health issues such as bipolarity and obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). This case study describes the use of ECT to treat a 38 year old man with autism who suffered from prolonged and severe obsessive-compulsive symptoms as well as hypochondria. The man did not respond to drug therapy or cognitive behavior therapy (CBT). The patient’s health was restored after ECT.


J Autism Dev Disorder, by Wood, JJ, Drahota A., Sze K., Dyke Van M., Decker K., Fujii C., Bahng C., and Renno P., published in 2009, summarized Apr 15, 2010

Core autism symptoms such as social communication deficits may be improved by cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT).

Social communication problems have proven hard to change through social skills training. This pilot study was designed to see the effect of a CBT program on parent-reported core autism symptoms. The study had 19 children (7 to 11 years old) with high-functioning autism who received 16 sessions of CBT. The CBT program focused on children’s emotion regulation, on-site social coaching, parent training, and school support. The authors found that parent-reported autism symptoms were lower in the CBT group than in the waitlist control group.


Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, by JJ, Wood, A Drahota, K Sze, M VanDyke, K Decker, C Fujii, C Bahng, and P Renno, published in 2009, summarized Jan 6, 2010

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) may be helpful for reducing autism symptoms, such as poor social responsiveness and low social motivation, in school-age children.

This pilot study asked whether cognitive behavioral therapy may be helpful for children with autism (ages 7-11 years old). Nine children received cognitive behavioral therapy for 3 months, and an additional10 children did not receive therapy until 3 months later (wait-listed controls). Parents were asked to score their autism symptoms before and after treatment. Children who received therapy improved as compared to children who did not receive therapy. The improvements lasted at least 3 months after the therapy was stopped.


Focus on Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities, by Reaven, JA, Blakely_Smith A., Nichols S., Dansari M., Flanigan E., and Hepburn S., published in 2009, summarized Apr 16, 2009

Group cognitive-behavioral therapy may be helpful in reducing symptoms of anxiety in children with autism.

The purpose of this study was to assess whether group (parent and child) cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy could reduce anxiety symptoms in children with high-functioning autism. The study used two measures of anxiety: parent reports, and child reports. Parents noted a decrease in anxiety symptoms after the group therapy intervention. The study had only 33 children with an average age of 12. The authors also note that the study did not have a control group.


The Samuel Field Y in New York is offering evening social skills classes for kids with autism ages 5 to 15. The classes will focus on skills that include cognitive behavior therapy, non-verbal communication, problem solving, and social skills. Trained staff leads the children’s groups and in addition, there is a parent discussion group facilitated by the staff. The Y also offers an after-school program called Project Child. The focus is on kids from the ages of 5 to 15 with conditions including ADHD, Asperger’s, and learning disabilities.

Read original article: Special Needs Programs for Kids Ages 5-15


There are many professionals qualified to help children with autism and provide knowledge and support to their parents; however, many parents don't know where to turn. In Alabama, the state Early Intervention System is prepared to intervene - they are holding a conference for parents and medical professionals to advise them of therapy methods. Early intervention may consist of speech therapy, physical therapy, and cognitive therapy; the Alabama system will put parents in contact with these treatments

Read original article.



Please comment on this autism topic.

Since very little information is provided here on CBT (though you can certainly find alot from searching the web) I thought I would add some. I am not very knowledgeable about autism so I am not sure how effective a treatment CBT would be. It would require the client to be able to process ideas and have some basic self-awareness of his/her thinking - i.e., they need to be able to think about their thinking.

The reason for this is that in CBT, one examines, with the help of a skilled teacher (CBT is largely a learning experience), one's habits of thinking going down to one's fundamental attitudes and beliefs. I think that all of us have some thought patterns and attitudes that are not helpful (some schools of CBT call them irrational). With the help of the teacher, the client learns which of his/her thoughts, beliefs and attitudes are helpful and which are harmful. They then work on practicing changing the harmful ones to more helpful ones. Since behavior is largely a function of our thinking, one would expect the behavior to change as a result, and that is the idea but we must remember that we have been practicing our thinking and behavior pattens for a long time and they don't usually just change suddenly. It's easier to change the thoughts first and then practice with the feelings and behaviors until they begin to feel as natural as the old less functional ones did.

If the autism is not so bad that the client cannot do this kind of mental processing I imagine CBT could be very helpful, especially in combination with other therapies. The hardest thing I have found is locating a good CBT therapist. My experience comes from the Albert Ellis - Maxie Maultsby school of CBT that whent by many similar names. Ellis began calling his method RET for Rational Emotive Therapy. Maultsby modified RET to make it easier to use by lay groups and for self-counseling and called his RBT for Rational Behavioral Therapy. While I and many people I know found RBT extremely beneficial and also teachable to others, it never caught on. Currently Dr. Aldo Pucci is carrying on the RBT tradition with his Rational Living Therapy and CBT itself has become a respected form of therapy, though there is no clear definition and you will find many different types of therapists who call themselves CBT therapists. In my opinion, good CBT is systematic, makes sure it goes to the heart of the clients thought and attitude patterns, successfully helps the client challenge and change unhelpful or irrational thinking patterns and attitudes and prescribes practice that will make those changes stick. Again my opinion, the CBT therapist has to know his/her method very well and have applied it successfully to themselves. This is not a do as I say, not as I do approach! So if you use a CBT therapist and after a few sessions it doesn't seem to be working, don't assume CBT won't work. It may be the therapist so see if you can find a better one.

Good luck with CBT

Robin Alexander, www.transthought.org



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  • Synonyms for cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) include: CBT, cognitive behavior therapy, cognitive behavioral modification, cognitive behavioral therapy, cognitive behaviour therapy, cognitive behavioural therapy, cognitive therapy, cognitive-behavioral therapy, cognitive/behavioral therapy
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